Russia vowed today to cooperate in the fight against terrorism as French President Francois Hollande began the last leg of a diplomatic bid to step up efforts to crush the Islamic State group.
	Sitting down to talks with Hollande at the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed to the November 13 assaults in Paris which 130 people were killed, and the IS-claimed  bombing of a Russian jetliner over Egypt on October 31, with the loss of all 224 people onboard.
	These "make us unite our efforts against the common evil," Putin said. "We are ready for this cooperation."
	Hollande, pitching a message he had taken to other major capitals with varying degrees of success, said, "We have to form this large coalition together to strike against terrorism."
	Moscow was the last stage of a whirlwind campaign by Hollande to intensify efforts to crush IS in Iraq and Syria.
	He notably gained the support of Britain, whose prime minister, David Cameron, set out his case today for air strikes ...

Putin tells Hollande 'ready for cooperation' in terrorism

PTI Automatic

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today that Turkey would have acted differently if it had known a warplane its forces downed on the Syrian border was Russian.
	"If we had known if it was a Russian plane maybe we would have warned it differently," Erdogan told France 24 television.
	He also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had not answered his call after Tuesday's incident that has seriously damaged ties between two rival players in the Syrian conflict.
	"I called Mr Putin but until now he never answered my call," he said.
	Turkey's military said the Su-24 bomber was shot down by two of its F-16s after it violated Turkish airspace 10 times within a five-minute period on Tuesday.
	Russia however said no warning had been given and that the aircraft did not violate Turkish airspace.
	Tuesday's incident prompted a tough response from Moscow, a major trade partner and Turkey's largest energy supplier.
	Putin has branded the act as a "stab in the back" by "accomplices of ...

'Would have acted differently if it had known jet was Russian'

Commonwealth foreign ministers hunkered down for talks in Malta today as the organisation moved towards clinching climate change deals that could pave the way for next week's UN environment summit.
	The family of 53 nations is gathering on the Mediterranean island with a focus on reaching agreements that will open doors for wider deals at the COP21 climate talks in Paris.
	The Commonwealth's biennial summit formally opens tomorrow, with countries such as Britain, Canada, India and South Africa sitting down on equal terms with tiny Caribbean island nations and developing microstates.
	"The beauty of the Commonwealth is that its diversity makes it into a prototype or microcosm of the whole world," its Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma said.
	Maltese host Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said he was targeting strong outcomes rooted in "realism" as the organisation tackles issues of "direct concern" -- namely climate change, extremism, trade and migration issues.
	Born out of the British ...

Commonwealth seeking strong solutions on climate change

Israeli forces shot dead three Palestinians engaged in clashes or attempted attacks in the occupied West Bank today, the latest deaths in a nearly two-month wave of deadly violence.
	Khaled Jawabrah from Al-Arub refugee camp, north of the flashpoint city of Hebron, died after being shot by Israeli forces with a live round as he was about to hurl a Molotov cocktail at an Israeli car, the army said.
	Earlier, Samer Hassan Siresee, 51, was shot dead by border police after getting out of a taxi and running at forces with a knife at Tapuah junction near the northern West Bank city Nablus, police said.
	And in the early hours, clashes in the village of Qatanna, northwest of Jerusalem, resulted in the death of Yahya Taha, 21, who the Palestinian health ministry said was shot in the head.
	Ninety-seven Palestinians have been killed in violence since October 1, including an Israeli Arab.
	Over half of them have been alleged perpetrators of stabbing, shooting and car ramming attacks aimed at ...

3 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in West Bank unrest

US soldiers are in Kobane, the town in northern Syria nearly destroyed in fierce fighting with the Islamic State group, to train Kurdish forces to battle the jihadists, Kurdish sources said today.
	Mustapha Abdi, an activist in the town on the Turkish border, told AFP the American instructors had arrived "in recent hours" in what is the first official deployment of US ground troops in Syria.
	A source with the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) said the Americans would help plan offensives against two Syrian cities held by IS -- Jarablus and the jihadists' Syrian "capital", Raqa.
	At the same time, they would have a role in coordinating with the Kurds and their Arab and Syriac Christian allies on the ground air strikes on IS by the US-lead coalition, the YPG source said.
	Abdi said that the troops who had arrived were a "first group of instructors" who would train the Kurds.
	He did not say how many of them had arrived or to what branch, or branches, of the military they ...

US soldiers in Syria to back anti-IS Kurds: Kurdish sources

Russia has deployed its advanced S-400 air defence system in Syria, the Russian defence ministry said today, with the weapons to be used to cover the area around its airbase in coastal Latakia.
	"According to the decision of the supreme commander-in-chief, an air defence complex S-400 has been delivered to the Russian Hmeimim airbase in Syria and is already on duty to cover the area," the defence ministry said in a statement.
	A video posted on the ministry's official Facebook page showed launchers being unloaded from a cargo plane, driven down a road, and switched into a deployed position.
	After Turkey shot down one of its jets, Moscow said yesterday it would deploy the system in Syria to protect its planes, which have been carrying out air strikes since September 30.
	The incident, which Turkey says was caused by the Russian pilot's breach of its air space, has severely hit relations between the two countries, with President Vladimir Putin calling it a "stab in the back."
	US ...

Russia deploys S-400 missiles at Syria base: ministry

Turkey today summoned the Russian ambassador to Ankara over a violent demonstration that took place outside the Turkish embassy in Moscow following Turkey's downing of a Russian jet on the Syrian border, the foreign ministry said.
	The Turkish foreign ministry said it wanted to express Turkey's discontent over the "unacceptable" incident as well as over a series of incidents against Turkish companies in Russia, the ministry said in a written statement.

Ankara summons Russian envoy: ministry

Canada's Chinese-born Miss World contender was stuck in Hong Kong today after being banned from taking a flight bound for mainland China, where the beauty pageant will take place.
	Anastasia Lin, a 25-year-old actress crowned Miss World Canada in May, said China was blocking her from travelling to the seaside resort city of Sanya for the contest to be held on December 19 because of her human rights activism.
	"They're sending this message to every Chinese or every brave person who dare to speak their minds... They want to show people that this is what you get when you speak up," Lin told AFP late today.
	The beauty queen has actively denounced human rights abuses in China, both on film and in public comments, notably its persecution of practitioners of Falun Gong, a spiritual group banned in mainland China.
	Herself a practitioner of Falun Gong -- which emerged in the 1990s combining Taoist philosophy, meditation and qigong exercises -- Lin testified in July at a US congressional ...

Canada's Beauty Queen stopped from attending China contest

A forest is to be planted in a park close to Amsterdam's Schiphol airport to commemorate the victims of downed flight MH17, Dutch media reported today.
	The national monument will comprise 298 trees, one for each of the victims of the ill-fated flight, the MH17 Disaster Foundation told the ANP news agency.
	"Relatives voted for the most relevant place and decided on the Vijhuizen park, where 298 trees will be planted," the foundation said.
	The trees will form a giant green ribbon, a symbol worn by the relatives to commemorate the July 17, 2014 disaster, with an amphitheatre at the centre.
	Three proposals were unveiled earlier this month for monuments to honour the victims, mostly Dutch nationals, killed when the plane came down in eastern Ukraine.
	A majority of relatives voted for the park project as Schiphol "is the place where the victims boarded the plane for the last time," the foundation said.
	The trees will be lit up at night and will be surrounded by sunflowers in bloom ...

MH17 victims to get Dutch memorial at Schiphol: report

French authorities have searched the homes of two imams from Geneva's main mosque, the largest in Switzerland, the mosque said today.
	The two imams, who were not named, work at the mosque managed by the Islamic Cultural Foundation of Geneva, which is near the United Nations compound and the headquarters of other international organisations.
	The two live in the French border town of Ferney-Voltaire, according to Swiss media reports.
	In a statement, the foundation confirmed the search overnight yesterday by authorities in France's Ain department.
	The statement said that following the search, "the authorities gave a signed document to the two imams which attested that no object was found that could lead to a prosecution."
	Police were not immediately available to comment on the search, including whether such a signed letter had actually been produced.
	The foundation said that it "will make the necessary arrangements with the Geneva and French authorities to shed light on the reasons 

French police search homes of imams from largest Swiss mosque

Vandals stole nearly USD 250 million worth of petrol from a single pipeline in Nigeria in the first nine months of 2015, the country's state-run oil company said Thursday, as motorists complained of shortages.
	The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said 531 million litres of petrol worth more than 50 billion naira were lost between January and September.
	The petrol was taken from the System 2B pipeline which stretches from the financial hub of Lagos to Ilorin, some 260 kilometres (160 miles) away to the northeast, the company added in a statement.
	Nigerian governments past and present have repeatedly blamed pipeline vandalism and theft in the oil sector for hitting revenues as well as supplies to consumers.
	The Pipelines and Product Marketing Company, an NNPC subsidiary, told a Senate committee that "incessant hacking" of the System 2B pipeline had "made the task of providing seamless flow of petroleum products to retail outlets more burdensome".
	Long queues have ...

Pipeline plundered for $250m of petrol: Nigeria's oil company

The two Koreas agreed today to hold a rare high-level dialogue next month, in line with an accord struck in August aimed at easing cross-border tensions.
	A Unification Ministry official in Seoul said the two sides would meet at the deputy minister level on December 11 in the Kaesong joint industrial zone, just inside North Korea.
	Agreement on the dialogue was reached at working-level talks held Thursday in the border truce village of Panmunjom, which ran late into the night.
	Unification Ministry Spokesman Jeong Joon-Hee told reporters that the North Koreans had initially demanded a set agenda for the Kaesong meeting, but later agreed to Seoul's proposal for a "comprehensive discussion of pending issues related to improving ties".
	Although any talks between the two Koreas are generally welcomed as a step in the right direction, precedent suggests it is still too early to hope for any significant breakthrough in December.
	A similar effort back in June 2013 saw both sides agree to ..

North, South Korea agree to high-level talks next month

Pope Francis held his first open-air mass in Africa today with huge crowds hailing heavy rains as "God's blessing" as they sung and danced in the Kenyan capital.
	Thousands of people queued through the night braving torrential downpours to take part in the historic mass, the first celebrated by Francis on African soil.
	The 78-year-old pontiff received a tumultuous welcome as he arrived in an open-topped Popemobile, smiling and waving as worshippers cheered, ululated and raised their hands in the air.
	At least 200,000 people crammed into the park at the University of Nairobi, Kenyan media said, in the pope's first major public appearance on a six-day trip which will also take him to Uganda and Central African Republic (CAR).
	"It is beautiful," beamed a nun called Sister Rachel. "We all sat through the rain and were not worried."
	"This is a very important moment in my life because I've never had the chance of attending a papal mass," said another pilgrim called Paul Ndivangu who ...

Huge crowds as pope celebrates first mass in Africa

German police today detained two men in a series of raids targeting suspected Islamists in Berlin and said they were examining a "suspicious object".
	Police said they had used sniffer dogs, but that no weapons or explosives had so far been found.
	The raids, involving special forces police, targeted first an Islamic cultural centre in western Charlottenburg district, and then a building in the southern suburb of Britz.
	"In connection with this threat, two men were detained in #Britz," tweeted Berlin police, adding in another message that "during a search of their vehicle, a suspicious object was found".
	The men were aged 28 and 46, reported national news agency DPA.
	Police also tweeted that in Britz, "some houses are currently being evacuated as a precaution for the forensic examination of the suspicious object".
	Bild newspaper reported that police had acted on a tip-off that an attack was being planned, as European police forces are on high alert following the bloody jihadist ...

Berlin police detain two in raids targeting Islamists

Malian special forces arrested two suspects over the siege at a luxury hotel in the capital Bamako that left 20 people dead along with two assailants, security sources said.
	"Two suspects linked to the attack last week at the Radisson hotel have just been arrested and they are being interrogated," one of the sources said.

Police detain two over Mali hotel attack: security sources

Child marriages in Africa are set to more than double by 2050 unless urgent steps are taken, UNICEF warned today as delegates met in Zambia to discuss how to halt the practice.
	The two-day meeting in Lusaka is the African Union's first conference on "Ending Child Marriage in Africa", gathering representatives from member states as well as first ladies, UN officials and civil society groups.
	"The total number of child brides will rise from 125 million to 310 million by 2050... If we do not do something now," UNICEF deputy executive director Fatoumata Ndiaye told AFP.
	"That means that the face of child marriage will be Africa," eclipsing South Asia, which currently has the highest number of child brides, Ndiaye said in a phone interview from Lusaka.
	The huge jump in the number of children being married off will be triggered partly by the continent's rapid population growth.
	"The child population of Africa is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years putting millions more girls ..

Child marriages set to soar in Africa: UNICEF

Belgium reduced the terror alert in Brussels Thursday, five days after it was raised to the highest possible level that saw schools and the metro closed, the government's crisis centre said.
	"We can confirm that the Threat Analysis Coordination Agency re-evaluated the threat level from four to level three," a spokesman for the crisis centre, which is part of the interior ministry, told AFP.
	There were no immediate details on what basis the agency reduced the threat level, with the national security council of top government officials set to decide on the consequences at a meeting later Thursday.
	The alert level was raised early Saturday after the government warned of a "serious and imminent threat" of attacks in the capital similar to the Paris atrocities that left 130 people dead on November 13.
	The city was locked down with armed police and troops patrolling near deserted streets and the metro system completely shut down, while schools stayed shut on Monday and Tuesday.
	Belgian 

Brussels terror alert reduced from highest level: official

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today that Turkey would have acted differently if it had known that a warplane its forces downed on the Syrian border this week was Russian.
	"If we had known if it was a Russian plane maybe we would have warned it differently," Erdogan told France 24 television, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin had not answered his call after Tuesday's incident that has seriously damaged ties.

Would have acted differently if known jet was Russian: Erdogan

Russia today said its forces had wiped out Syrian rebel groups operating in the area where one of its jets was brought down, unleashing a huge bombardment after rescuing a pilot.
	   "As soon as our pilot was safe, Russian bombers and artillery of the Syrian government forces carried out massive strikes in the indicated area for an extended period," military official Igor Konashenkov told Russian news agencies, adding that "the terrorists operating in that area and other mysterious groups were destroyed.

Destroyed Syria rebels in area where jet brought down: Russia

Pope Francis today urged global action against illegal trafficking of blood diamonds, ivory and other natural resources, saying it caused political instability and "terrorism".
	"Illegal trade in diamonds and precious stones, rare metals or those of great strategic value, wood, biological material and animal products, such as ivory trafficking and the related killing of elephants, fuels political instability, organised crime and terrorism," he said in a speech in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
	"We cannot be silent about forms of illegal trafficking which arise in situations of poverty," he said, just two weeks before Nairobi hosts a key ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation.
	The pontiff spoke on the first full day of a three-nation trip which will also take him to Uganda and war-torn Central African Republic, where rights groups have warned that illegal smuggling of "blood diamonds" may be financing militia groups behind ongoing sectarian violence.
	Figures published ...

'Trafficking in natural resources fuels instability,terrorism'

Citic Securities, China's largest brokerage firm, said Thursday it is being probed for alleged "rule violations", while several of its directors are already the subject of separate investigations.
	The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) is investigating Citic Securities for "allegedly violating the Supervision and Management Regulation for Securities Brokerages," the company said in a statement filed to the Shanghai stock exchange, where it is listed.
	It did not give details of the investigation.
	"Citic Securities will actively assist the investigation and release any progress in a timely manner. The company is operating normally," it added. Shares in in the firm dipped one percent Thursday.
	Police are separately investigating executives of the firm for insider trading and leaking inside information, the official Xinhua news agency reported in September.
	They include general manager Cheng Boming, operations official Yu Xinli and the vice manager of its information ...

AFP

AFP

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